It’s not all fine and dandy in Silicon Valley.
Tech industry mogul Steve Wozniak’s criticism toward automotive company Tesla and its owner, Elon Musk, continues.
"I don’t believe anything Elon Musk or Tesla says," Wozniak said at a conference in Sweden last week. "But I still love the car."
Despite owning two Tesla Model S vehicles, Wozniak has stated that there was "way too much hype" around the company and has shared his own troubles as a Tesla owner. The Silicon Beat reported that Wozniak told Business Insider that in one instance, his Tesla skidded off an icy road and fell into a snowbank.
Although the Apple co-founder hasn’t shied away from sharing his thoughts on the company, he has still contributed to their success by upgrading his model when Tesla introduced the feature that allows owners to "summon" their self-driving vehicles, Silicon Beat reports.
Buying into the promise that the Tesla vehicle would be self-driven by 2016, Wozniak’s trust in the company and its owner was damaged when they did not pull through. Silicon Beat reports that Wozniak took shots at Tesla by praising other car manufacturers like Audi and BMW for being ahead of Tesla in the race for self-driving cars.
"When a Tesla runs in any condition on a highway that is a little unusual — a cone in the middle of a lane — you have to move over," Wozniak said. "A dumb human or a smart human can easily do it, but the Tesla can’t. Man, you’ve got to be on your toes all the time with it."
Wozniak is no stranger to controversy. Last month, he revealed that he is still on Apple’s payroll as an employee, earning a far smaller paycheck than what he did as an executive, Silicon Beat reports. At the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, he stated that he only reported to late co-founder Steve Jobs.
"Since he died, I can’t be fired," Wozniak said, according to CNBC.
According to Silicon Beat, Wozniak compared Musk’s salesmanship to that of Jobs.
"I love that car but the trouble is, Elon Musk is portrayed in a lot of movies with a lack of faith and trust," said Wozniak. "What he says, can you really believe in him? Is he just a good salesman like Jobs and may not be there (in the end)?"
